After having spent 20 years at Châtelet, we crossed the Seine and moved to a new, lovely location at Solférino, Paris 7th, in September 2017. Just a few steps away from Musée d’Orsay, Les Invalides and Boulevard St Germain, our school is located at one of the most beautiful streets in Paris, equipped with 10 classrooms (5 air-conditioned), study space for students, and a kitchen facility for free coffee & tea!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Even though the summer in Paris is not very hot and doesn’t last long, 5 out of 10 classrooms are air-conditioned for your comfort.
No. At LUTECE LANGUE, we believe that direct interactive engagement with a teacher produces the best results.
Yes. Please ask the school staff for the password.
No. We have, a small kitchen where students can make coffee and tea (provided free). What is more French than speaking French over a cup of coffee or tea?
There is no dead line for application as long as spaces are available. However, We advise you to book your French class at least 3 weeks before the starting date (4 weeks in case you need accommodations). Late booking could be accepted depending on availability of place. Please note that you need to take the placement tests 2 weeks prior to the starting date. For our mini-group lessons limited to 8 students, we allocate places to students on the “first come (and take tests) first served” basis.
Starting dates for French for beginners:
(2024): 8/1, 5/2, 4/3, 2/4 (no class on Monday 1/4 due to holiday, replacement lessons offered), 29/4, 3/6, 1/7, 29/7, 2/9, 30/9, 28/10, 25/11
* A late booking fee of 20€ is applied for bookings made less than one week before the starting date.
* In case of late booking, the availability of seat is not guaranteed before placement tests are taken.
* In case of late booking, the availability of seat is not guaranteed before placement tests are taken.
Our school is open throughout year except on bank holidays. There is no class on the following holidays and replacement lessons will be organized during the same week. The details will be explained on the first day of class.
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS (2024) : 1/1, 1/4, 1/5, 8/5, 9/5, 20/5, 15/8, 1/11, 11/11, 25/12 (School Closure 23/12/24-29/12/24)
We are glad and proud to have many repeater students. You’ll need to pay the registration fee when you register online. However, as soon as you share the experience of your studies at LUTECE LANGUE by writing a review on GOOGLE, you’ll be refunded 60€.
You are requested to arrive at school 15 minutes before the class begins so as to check your placement and finalize administration. You just need to bring pens and notebooks to the class. The lesson starts on the first day.
Our students range from 18-75 and the average is around 30-35. We focus on self-motivated students, which tends to raise the average age.
Yes. Our mini-group French language courses are designed for adult students and we only accept students 18 and older. For younger students, we offer private lessons or semi-private lessons (2 young students registering together). If there are several young of similar French language skill registering together (group booking), we can arrange group lessons for them. Please contact us to discuss your needs.
Our students come from all over the world. The major nationalities are American, British, German and other European countries, Australian, Chinese, and Japanese. We believe the diversity in culture and age of our students brings dynamism to our classes.
We have around 50-60 students on average throughout year, during the high summer season this will increase to 60-70.
Nearly half of our students come to Paris from abroad specifically to participate in our French classes. They spend on average 2-3 weeks at school. Other students are living and working in the greater Paris region. Most start by registering for 1-2 weeks and then extending their time with us for several months or longer.
Our small class size enables our teachers to pay personal attention to each student in the class. Our teachers continually monitor students’ progress and satisfaction.
We know the importance of a warm atmosphere and a “trust relationship” in class. These are the key elements to break the foreign language hesitance that many students have, allowing them to gain confidence in speaking French (even with errors) and to progress rapidly.
A lot of our students extend their courses at school and come back again years later, sometimes several times, whenever they visit Paris. Some of them bring their friends and family members to the school because our school is a unique place where the caring, friendly and professional school staff and students share valuable experiences about our easy way to learn French.
When your enrollment is complete, we will send you a WRITTEN placement test as well as a confirmation form by email. The French test needs to be completed without dictionary and returned to us 2 weeks prior to your starting date. Once you submit the written test, please call for an ORAL placement evaluation (2 min.) at +33 1 73 70 17 69, during 13:15-14:45 French time.
Yes. You can take the tests between 13:15-14:45, Monday to Friday. Please call +33 1 73 70 17 69 or email us to make an appointment and ask the door code.
Both written and oral tests are mandatory for all students, including “complete beginners”. There is absolutely NO problem even if you can’t answer a single question on the written test, or can’t hold a conversation during the oral test. The purpose is just to check your “current” French level. Without tests, we can’t guarantee an appropriate placement. Relax and enjoy the tests!
=IMPORTNAT= All students must take placement tests 1-2 weeks before the start date. In case of late tests, the school does not guarantee the placement in an appropriate group. The student not taking placement tests will be required to sit for the tests on the first day and start class next day. There is no refund or replacement for missed classes.
When students are quite strong in grammar but very weak in oral, we generally put them in lower class level where they can relax and focus on practicing speaking. Even though there may be “nothing new in grammar”, they can concentrate on reinforcing their verbal skills by participating actively in class, remembering the once-learned-but-forgotten vocabulary, grammar and sentence structures. For such students, the objective should be placed on gaining confidence in speaking and improving the balance between their oral/comprehension skills and grammar understanding.
The same thing can happen to a student with strong verbal skills but with a weak understanding of grammar. For example, there are students who have lived in France for a while but with little or no formal French Language education. They can speak (roughly) and understand quite well. For them, it is important to acquire the basic rules of grammar in French so that they understand if what they are saying is grammatically correct or not. This will give them a confidence in their French proficiency.
Thanks to our small class format, we can constantly monitor your progress and make adjustments to your class level if necessary. Our goal is to help you master French efficiently, by an easy way to learn the language. We are always trying to provide you an ideal learning environment that most encourages your progress.
We have 4-6 class levels throughout year, adopting the CECRL (Common Reference of European Frameworks of Language) to define the class levels. IMPORTANT: the number of hours mentioned is just indicative and doesn’t always correspond to your current French level. For example, some students might take 700h to attain B1 whereas others just 100h. Indeed, the progress speed varies a lot from student to student.
A1.0: Complete beginner/beginner (about 50 hours of study)
– have never learned French, or
– know only a few words and expressions in French and can barely make a sentence
A1: Advanced beginner/Elementary (about 100 hours of study)
– Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type.
– Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has.
– Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
A2: Elementary/Intermediate 1 (about 200 h of study)
– Can understand easily French sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).
– Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.
– Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
B1: Intermediate 1 (about 300-400 h of study)
– Can understand easily using French the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
– Can deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken.
– Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
– Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
B2: Intermediate 2 /Advanced (about 500-600 h of study)
– Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.
– Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party.
– Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
C1/C2: Advanced / Proficiency (700-1000 h of study)
– Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning.
– Can express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions.
– Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.
– Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
We have on-going French classes and you can start the French course on any Monday throughout the year if you are NOT a complete beginner.
Starting dates for French for beginners INTENSIVE 15h course:
-(2023):09/01, 06/02, 06/03, 03/04, 02/05 (no class on Monday 01/05 due to holiday, replacement lessons offered), 05/06, 03/07, 31/07, 04/09, 02/10, 30/10, 27/11
National holidays:
-(2023) : 01/01, 10/04, 01/05, 08/05, 18/05, 14/07, 15/08, 01/11, (School Closure 25/12-01/01/24)
We have an “on-going” class system, meaning there is no starting and ending date of a class. We initially place you, based on our evaluation of your overall proficiency in French with a written and oral test, in one of the on-going classes from A1 to C1 (see FAQS “French level test”). Each class has certain objectives for grammar, comprehension and oral expression skills defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Some students show a rapid improvement and move quickly to the next level, while others progress more slowly and may stay in the same level class for more than one weak.
When students are quite strong in grammar but very weak in oral, we generally put them in a lower class level where they can relax and focus on practicing speaking. Even though there may be “nothing new in grammar”, they can concentrate on reinforcing their verbal skills by participating actively in class, remembering the once-learned-but-forgotten vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structures. For such students, the objective should be placed on gaining confidence in speaking and improving the balance between their oral/comprehension skills and grammar understanding.
The same thing can happen to a student with strong verbal skills but with weak understanding of grammar. For example, there are students who have lived in France for a while but with little or no formal French Language education. They can speak (roughly) and understand quite well. For them, it is important to acquire the basic rules of grammar in French so that they understand if what they are saying is grammatically correct or not. This will give them a confidence in their French proficiency.
Thanks to our small class format, we can constantly monitor your progress and make adjustments of your class level if necessary. Our goal is to help you master French efficiently, by an easy way to learn the language. We are always trying to provide you an ideal learning environment that most encourages your progress.
When you decide the choice of your French course, the first thing you should do is to analyze your objectives in mastering French. You might need to improve your French immediately for your current job. You might have a project for the near future to find a job, create a job, develop your career and business, etc. Or, you just want to improve your French to be able to communicate more with people and understand more about the French culture.
Next step is to be strategic and choose the courses which strengthen the competencies you need:
- Weekly Mini-group French Course (INTENSIVE 15h, STANDARD 7,5h, EXTENSIVE Evening, and Saturday 3 h): build a foundation of general French language.
- COMBINED Course “Mini-group French Course + WORKSHOPS”: build a foundation of general French language as well as reinforce your French by focusing on your needs and difficulties (conversation, writing, pronunciation, business French, preparation French exams, etc.)
- COMBINED Course “Mini-group French Course + PRIVATE LESSONS”: build a foundation of general French language as well as reinforce your week points (conversation, grammar, etc.) or develop the technical vocabularies and expressions of French language in your specialization (law, specific business French, tourism, cooking, music, fashion, etc.) by taking perfectly personalized private lessons.
- Thematic WORKSHOPS: focus on reinforcing your French by focusing on your needs and difficulties (conversation, writing, pronunciation, etc.)
- PRIVATE FRENCH LESSONS: focus on reinforcing your week points (conversation, grammar, etc.) or developing the technical vocabularies and expressions of French language that you need for your job/study (law, specific business French, tourism, cooking, music, fashion, etc.)
From our experience, the most efficient format is the “COMBINED” courses. You can “attack” your weak points by taking workshops/private lessons while developing a solid overall foundation by taking general French course. Workshops and private lessons are very flexible format and you can even add lessons once you are at school.
In weekly mini-group lessons, we use an interactive teaching approach, emphasizing on oral practice. There is no text book that the teachers are required to use at class. We know that every text book has strong and weak points – and is not always effective to all types of students. The teachers choose and combine methods and materials according to the needs of students. They provide handouts during class so you do not need to buy text books.
No. At LUTECE LANGUE, the teachers teach French only in French—”French immersion”—except in rare exceptions. We believe that immersive learning is the most efficient method to learn French. Our experiences show that the habit of translation hinders progress. By translating every vocabulary and every explanation into their own language in order to understand “perfectly”, students delay their ability to integrate easily French skills.
Another reason for which we don’t use translation is that English is often not the common language in the classroom. Because we serve many nationalities not all of the students are strong English speakers.
We advise you to register for the French course at least 2 months prior to the planning course starting date. Once deposit payment is made by bank transfer, LUTECE LANGUE will prepare the Certificate of Registration and send the original by the post.
You need to take INTENSIVE PLUS (Intensive course and Workshops) during the period of your visa. You must take the following number of weeks of course at LUTECE LANGUE for your visa application:
- 1 year Student VISA: min. 40 week course, deposit 4 242 EUR, total tuition 11 700 EUR (+ 100 EUR registration & Certificate fees)
- 6 month Student VISA: min. 20 week course, deposit 2 156 EUR, total tuition 5 880 EUR (+100 EUR registration & Certificate fees)
In case a visa application is refused, students must email a cancellation request to the school by latest 2 weeks before the starting date. When registration is cancelled in time and the original of Certificate of enrollment is returned to the school, the deposit will be refunded. Administration fee 200€ is charged and registration fee, certificat fee, accommodation handling fee are non refundable.
A. No need for VISA if you are EU national: Germany, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Rumania, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Monaco or Andorra
B. No VISA for a short-term stay in France (less than 3 months) if you are from the following countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, South Korea, Costa Rica, Croatia, Darussalam, El Salvador, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Japan, Macedonia, Malaya, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Nicaragua, New-Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Saint-Marin, Serbia, Holy See, Seychelles, Singapore, Uruguay and Venezuela
C. If You are a national from other countries:
You must imperatively obtain a student visa before arriving in France. The request must be made at the French consulate in your country.
– Contact Campus France if you are from: Algeria, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, South Korea, United States, Gabon, Guinea, India, Japan, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Russia, Senegal, Syria, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey or Vietnam.
– Contact the Consulate or Embassy of France of your country. If You live in another country.
Yes, but only on the condition that you send us a written request by no later than 2 weeks prior to your course starting date. Handling fee 35 EUR is charged. More information
Our school’s cancellation policy is 2-week notice. If a written request is received in time, we refund the tuition fee by bank transfer or check. The registration fee, accommodation handling fee and the certificate fee are NOT refundable. Refund handling fee 85 EUR will be applied and all bank commissions incurred will be at the charge the student.
There is no replacement lesson in case of absence for any reasons unless the school received a min. 2- week absence notice.
In case of absence due to serious illness or hospitalization for more than 5 days, students need to inform the school immediately and send a medical certificate within 2 days. More information
Yes. We have several host families where your family can stay together. Please contact us for your accommodation in Paris.
LUTECE LANGUE is situated in the very center of Paris, which is touristic and commercial and not very residential. All of our host families are located in residential areas, within 30 min. from the school. If you need an accommodation very close to the school, a hotel could be a good option.
You can choose the arrival date. The school will inform the host family of your flight information so that there is someone waiting for you on your arrival at the family. When you arrive in Paris, you can directly go to your accommodations.
